Before My Time is about the ancestry and extended family of my four grandparents: John Samuel Krentz (Indiana/North Dakota), Margreta Tjode Hedwig (Gertie) Buss (North Dakota), Rosmer Pettis Kerr (Pennsylvania/Michigan), and Evelyn Elvina Hauer (Michigan). Archives, Labels (tags), and other links appear at the bottom of the page.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

On the occasion of their third wedding anniversary, my mother made a 78 rpm record for my father. Although the sound quality is very poor, you will be able to hear her voice, and--oh, my!--she sounds so young!

After a short intro, I recognized the lines of a poem. I was able to find several versions of it online, which enabled me to create the following transcription despite the fact that you can barely hear some of the words as she reads them.

Today is January 5th, 1949.Just three short years ago we were married,and now we have Linda to share our happinessand make our anniversary even more complete.For you, darling, I have a special message:

I love you not only for what you are,but for what I am when I am with you.I love you not only for what you are making of yourself,but for what you are making of me.I love you for that part of me that you bring out.

I love you for putting your hand into my heaped-up heartand passing over all the foolish and frivolous and weak thingsyou could not help dimly seeing there,and for drawing out into the light all the beautiful and radiant qualitiesthat no one else had looked quite deep enough to find.

I love you for ignoring the possibility of the fool in me,and for laying hold of the possibility for good.I love you for closing your ears to the discords in me,and for adding to the harmony in me by reverent listening.

I love you because you are helping meto make of the structure of my life not a tavern, but a temple;and out of the words of my every day, not a reproach, but a song.

I love you because you have donemore than any creed could have done to make me good,and more than any fate could have done to make me happy.

You have done all this just by being yourselfand I love you very much.

This poem is said to have been written by Roy Croft. I tried to find out more about him, but no one seems to know for sure who he is or was. Research librarian Ted Nesbitt discusses Roy Croft at AllExperts.com.

Interestingly, Wikipedia has an article entitled Roycroft, about the Roycroft community and movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. Having read that and Nesbitt's comments, I have my own little speculation on the subject. I think "Roy Croft" may have been either a pen name of Elbert Hubbard or a misunderstood attribution to his "Roycroft Press" publishing company. But you probably ought not to quote me on that! I'm just sayin'! And I don't have time to research it myself. Dear reader, you are welcome to do so at will and report back!

Oh, my, aren't you glad that you discovered these recordings. This makes me want to get my records preserved as well. I wonder if our parents had the same radio/recorder since my parents were making the same records during the same time period.

Our Family in Books: A Bibliography

My Ancestors in Books (a library of resources and notes pertaining to Reverend Samuel Stone, Major General Robert Sedgwick, Elder John Crandall, and other early Americans in the forest where my family tree was grown)

History of St. James Lutheran Church [full title: A little of this and a little of that in the 141 year (1861-2002) History of St. James Lutheran Church, Reynolds Indiana] by Harold B. Dodge, published at Reynolds, Indiana, 2002; 170 pages.

Lisbon, North Dakota 1880-2005 Quasuicentennial, published at Lisbon, North Dakota in 2005; 391 pages.